21 comments:

Moyer is older than the Rockies and the Astros (the name, not the team, which started play as the Colt .45s seven months before Moyer was born). Moyer made his debut six years before Bud Selig took over as acting commissioner of MLB. He was traded to the Rangers with Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro hit 544 home runs after the trade and has been retired for six seasons.

He made his major league debut on the day Barry Bonds hit the 4th home run of his career. He also debuted before Mark McGwire hit his first home run, before Roger Clemens won his first Cy Young award, before Randy Johnson struck out his first batter, and before Craig Biggio got his first hit.

Jamie Moyer was born about a week after Ted Kennedy was sworn into the Senate for the first time. When he made his MLB debut, the #1 song in America was "On My Own," by Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald.

Moyer debuted for the Cubs against the Phillies and won - against Steve Carlton. Starting LF for the Cubs that day was present-day Phils broadcaster Gary Matthews, whose son,Gary Jr., played in 12 MLB seasons between Moyer's 110th and 262nd career wins.

Moyer began his career before the all-star game determined home field advantage in the world series, before interleague play and before the wild card. When he made his debut, the National League still had one team that used a player-manager (the Reds) and one team whose stadium did not have lights (the Cubs).

When he began his career Michael Jordan was five years away from winning his first NBA championship, Derek Jeter was six years away from graduating high school and Billy Crystal was five years away from hosting the Oscars for the first time. Cal Ripken was nine years from breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak. The United States has had five different presidents during Moyer's career.

Here's something I used to love back when I was collecting baseball cards - the guys who had played in 4 decades (and for whom Topps had to use a totally different font for the career stats on the backs of their cards). The ones I remember from my card-collecting days were Jim Kaat, Tim McCarver, and Willie McCovey, who all started their careers in 1959 and played into the early 1980s.

Moyer, though, is unusual among 4-decade guys in that he started his career in the middle, rather than at the end, of a decade. Hall-of-Famers Nolan Ryan (1966-1993) and Eddie Collins (1906-1930) are the only other modern-era comparables to Moyer on this front - every other 4-decade guy in MLB history started his career in the -8 or -9 year of the decade.

(Also, give it up for the only other active 4-decade club member: Omar Vizquel.)

Jim Caple: "<span>Because he pitched in both leagues before the wave of new stadiums and in both leagues after the new stadiums, Moyer has pitched in a record 49 big league ballparks (plus three more in Japan during an MLB tour). The only ballparks in use during his career he missed are Exhibition Park in Toronto, Mile High Stadium in Denver and Target Field in Minnesota. If he makes the team, Miami's new stadium could be his 50th."</span>

While Moyer recovered from injury last year, knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield held the title of oldest active player. Wakefield was a firstbaseman on his college team when Moyer made his major league debut.

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